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    Correlation of carbon nanotube dispersability in aqueous surfactant solutions and polymers
    (New York, NY [u.a.] : Pergamon Press, 2009) Krause, Beate; Petzold, Gudrun; Pegel, Sven; Pötschke, Petra
    In order to assess the dispersability of carbon nanotube materials, tubes produced under different synthesis conditions were dispersed in aqueous surfactant solutions and the sedimentation behaviour under centrifugation forces was investigated using a LUMiFuge stability analyzer. The electrical percolation threshold of the nanotubes after melt mixing in polyamide 6.6 was determined and the state of dispersion was studied. As a general tendency, the nanotubes having better aqueous dispersion stability showed lower electrical percolation threshold and better nanotube dispersion in the composites. This indicates that the investigation of the stability of aqueous dispersions is also able to give information about the nanotubes inherent dispersability in polymer melts, both strongly influenced by the entanglement and agglomerate structure of the tubes within the as-produced nanotube materials. The shape of the nanotubes in the aqueous dispersions was assessed using a SYSMEX flow particle image analyzer and found to correspond to the shape observed from cryofractured surfaces of the polymer composites. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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    Programing stimuli-responsiveness of gelatin with electron beams: Basic effects and development of a hydration-controlled biocompatible demonstrator
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2017) Riedel, Stefanie; Heyart, Benedikt; Apel, Katharina S.; Mayr, Stefan G.
    Biomimetic materials with programmable stimuli responsiveness constitute a highly attractive material class for building bioactuators, sensors and active control elements in future biomedical applications. With this background, we demonstrate how energetic electron beams can be utilized to construct tailored stimuli responsive actuators for biomedical applications. Composed of collagen-derived gelatin, they reveal a mechanical response to hydration and changes in pH-value and ion concentration, while maintaining their excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability. While this is explicitly demonstrated by systematic characterizing an electron-beam synthesized gelatin-based actuator of cantilever geometry, the underlying materials processes are also discussed, based on the fundamental physical and chemical principles. When applied within classical electron beam lithography systems, these findings pave the way for a novel class of highly versatile integrated bioactuators from micro-to macroscales.